“When Brazilians talk about the five most threatened birds in the country, this bird is one of them,” says Bennett Hennessey, Brazil Program Coordinator at ABC. “It is one of our emergency birds.”

THE CHERRY THROATED TANAGER

The cherry-throated tanager (Nemosia rourei) is a very rare bird wearing a bright patch of cherry red on the throat that varies in extent depending on the bird. A wide black mask extends from the forehead across the eyes meeting at the nape, while a small white line runs right above it, making the top of the forehead appear white when looked at from the front. The upper sides are ash grey, with the back being darker than lighter at the top of the head. The square-tipped tail and wings are black with blue iridescence on the primary and secondary wing coverts. The uppertail coverts are also black, fairly long, and tipped in white. The belly is also white, the feet and toenails pink, and the eyes yellow.

It is thought that males and females look very much alike, though females may have a smaller red throat patch.

Juvenile birds have a dull brown throat patch.

“Cherry-throated Tanager (Nemosia rourei)” (cropped) by Brendan A Ryan is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

This bird is endemic to Brazil, now currently found in the south-eastern state of Espírito Santo, at Fazenda Pindobas and Mata do Caetés.

The Cherry-throated manager likes to inhabit the humid canopy of forested areas at elevations of 850-1.250 m.

These birds mostly dine on small invertebrates such as caterpillars, butterflies, ants, and other arthropods.

“Cherry-throated Tanager (Nemosia rourei)” (cropped) by Brendan A Ryan is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

There is little information on the breeding habits of this species, it is thought they breed between October and January laying a clutch of 3 to 5 eggs which are incubated by the female for around 10 to 13 days. In similar species, the chics become fledged after around 8 to 11 days.

This bird has been classified as critically endangered by BirdLife International, with an estimated population of between 30 and 200 adult birds and a distribution size of just 31 km2 (12 sq mi). From field data, presently only some 14-20 individuals are known, some of them juvenile, but the continuing existence of this very rare bird for over 100 years suggests further populations await discovery. The major threat to its survival is deforestation leading to further and further habitat fragmentation and which can reduce habitat to a point where it is too small in extent for a viable population of this species. As with many Atlantic Forest endemics, it seems to have been a rare bird even before the onset of widespread habitat destruction, but why this is so remains unknown.

“Cherry-throated Tanager (Nemosia rourei)” (cropped) by Brendan A Ryan is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

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